chronicles of a girl on the run with her dog

This Is What It’s All About…

For me, running is about feeling good. In a number of ways, running has turned my life around and is what makes me feel good. What I especially like about running is the connections I’ve made: The people I’ve known that run, the one’s I’ve met, been reunited with (including my wonderful BF), become close friends with, been inspired by… all this because of running.

Last week I finally got back to running with the meet up group (Marin Social Runners-MSR, let’s emphasize the “social” part) that I hadn’t run with in almost 9 months. It was great. There is something really nice about meeting people (some I didn’t really know) and going for a run on a very cold, but beautiful morning. Sorta nutty when you think about it… getting up early on a Saturday morning, when you want to sleep in. But then you get there and everyone is… happy. How nice is that?

off we go… even with the dog

The fast runner in the group was also the photographer. Even though he is speedy, he still hung with the group. I think that is pretty cool. That is what this group running thing is all about… running together. We can all do speedier runs on our own, but the group thing is just that… a group.

crown road is a great trail… nice and flat!

It’s fun to get some pics of yourself in motion. I actually look like a real runner. 😉

The next day, I got up early again, and ran with another gal, Hope, who I met through the Athleta run club I used to lead. I introduced her to Phoenix Lake. Hope is a fast runner, which is always a good challenge for me.

Today, one week later I met my buddy Beth, my Spartan teammate, my good friend, my sister in many ways for a nice and easy run around Phoenix Lake (yes, I love this place.) She had just done an intense mountain bike ride to the top of Mt. Tam the day before (7 miles up and up and up), and was a little sore. I was grateful about that, because, frankly… I’m not that interested in always running fast. I’m interested in connecting. I’m interested in good conversation (which we shared quite a bit in the 5 miles we ran.) I’m interested in the joy of running and sharing that with someone. I don’t want to feel like it’s a workout I have to do. I don’t want to feel like I have to run X amount of miles (although I confess I made her run past the cars until we hit an even five!) I don’t want to feel like I have to run a certain pace. I’ll do it if I feel like it. I don’t want to feel any pressure when I run. I want to have fun!!!

we represent athleta well… post run, post coffee gab fest

I enjoyed my time with Beth, and am a little sad that she is leaving Northern California for the spring to continue her studies in Southern California. Although I have every intention of visiting and hopefully doing a race one weekend this spring with her down there.

In the meantime, I am so grateful for our friendship, which came about through… yes, running. Even though we grew up in neighboring towns, went to the same high school and knew the same people, we never were friends. We really connected through running, via Facebook, because she was inspired by me and my running. Long story short, she got me to jet down to San Diego last year, stay with her and do the Spartan Race. We hardly knew each other except for emails back and forth. But connected in so many ways, now we are like sisters, so similar in our thoughts, ideas and courage to make our lives better. So similar in the place we are in our lives, connecting in ways that only woman our age can, sharing our joys and sorrows and helping figure stuff out. It’s almost like therapy!

Which brings me back to today’s run. It was just pure bliss to be out in nature to connect with someone who shares your ideas about running and just wants to have fun… running along, in this beautiful place we live.

One of my New’s Resolution is to go to more meet ups, run more with friends. Connect… talk about life and maybe talk a little about running.

This is what it’s all about. To just enjoy the journey.

Today is the 5th day of the new year, and so far, I think I’m keeping that resolve.